


Inked

by killerweasel



Series: Inked [1]
Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 16:24:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wolfram and Hart has finally caught up with Lindsey, but nothing goes as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inked

Title: Inked  
Fandom: Angel  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Marcus Hamilton  
Rating: R  
Word count: 1,228  
A/N: This is AU after _Angel's Dead End_

**Inked**

I went sailing backwards across the room, narrowly avoiding the coffee table. My body had barely hit the floor before he was on me again. Figures they’d send someone like Marcus after me. I knew far too much about the Senior Partners, not to mention I was the first employee in a century to walk away from my contract. The Partners were going to make an example of me.

After hitting me a couple of times, he grabbed me by the neck. What was it with people who were stronger than me and my neck anyway? He was about to hit me again when his cell rang. Marcus frowned. “Excuse me for a second.” He shifted his body so there was no way I’d be able to wriggle out from under him while keeping his hand on my neck and then answered his phone. “I’m a little busy right now, do you mind calling back in a few minutes?”

I couldn’t make out what the other person was saying, but whatever it was, Marcus didn’t look amused. “What!?” The grip around my throat tightened, cutting off my air completely. Clawing at his wrist did me absolutely no good. Marcus was stronger than a vampire, plus I was pinned to the floor by his weight. I wasn’t going anywhere. My struggles grew weaker as my vision started to go grey.

“But, sir, I have him right now. Finally, after nine months of hunting, I caught the little bastard. I can feel the life draining from his body right under my fingertips.” Marcus smiled down at me and then the color drained from his face. Not only did he let go of my neck, but he scooted backwards as quickly as he could. I gasped and choked, writhing on the floor while trying to get oxygen through my wounded throat.

“What do you mean that the Conduit is dead?” His voice had a frightened quality to it and while I probably should have been amused, I found myself getting nervous. It took quite a lot to scare something like him. “All of the employees? The entire building? That’s impossible. The Senior Partners would never allow something like that...” Marcus trailed off with a look of horror on his face. The phone slipped from his fingers, hit the floor with a clatter that seemed to echo off the walls of the cabin, and went dead.

For a while, he just sat there, rubbing his temples and occasionally glancing in my direction to make sure I wasn’t trying to leave the building. I wasn’t planning on moving if I could help it. My entire body felt like one massive bruise and breathing hurt like a son of a bitch.

I must have passed out because one minute I was watching a spider slowly make its way towards my face and the next I was being propped into a sitting position. For half a second I thought about jerking away from him, but I figured that would just end with more bruises on top of the ones I already had, so I held still instead. My throat ached and I knew I had marks from his fingers on my skin.

“The firm called me back while you were... resting.” Marcus sat up straighter. “There are things in motion, Mr. McDonald. They’re much larger and important than the two of us.”

My tongue flicked out, wetting lips which had gone dry. The first couple of times I tried to say anything, all that came out was a croak. Third time was the charm. “Like what?” The sound of my own voice hurt my ears and made me wince.

“‘And the world will know peace and bask in the glory of She Who Should Not Be Named.’”

I blinked. “Scrolls of Alexia?”

“Oh, you are good.” He sighed. “There are thousands of prophecies, most of which never come true since everything must be perfect in order for it to occur. While I’ve been following you all over this country, Angel’s son came into this world.”

“Angel has a son?” Maybe he meant Angel had turned someone. I couldn’t really see him doing something like that though.

“He had one with Darla.” Marcus’ words were like a punch to the gut. I barely had time to recover from that before he got me again. “She’s dead; sacrificed herself so the child could live.”

I closed my eyes. The woman, not the vampire, I’d known would have done just that. I wondered if the baby had her eyes or if he even knew how special he was. A child born of two vampires was an impossible thing. The kid shouldn’t even exist.

“Long story short, the child was taken to a hell dimension, which was not one of ours, and came back a very angry young man.” He shook his head. “You are the last living employee from the Los Angeles branch, Mr. McDonald. Everyone else, including the Conduit, was killed by a creature known as The Beast.”

“All of them?” My eyes popped back open in surprise. We were talking hundreds of people. “Why didn’t the Partners...”

“They can’t interfere directly in something like that, not without crossing over into our dimension completely. And if they did something like that, they’d need to reside in a weaker host.” He ran a shaky hand over his face. “They would be weaker than Her and it’s too risky.”

“So where does that leave us?”

“I have new orders.” Marcus’ lip curled up in disgust. “Instead of killing you as slowly and painfully as possible, I’m supposed to keep your traitorous ass alive.”

“Why?” That made no sense. Why would they go through all this trouble to track me down only to change their minds?

“If just one employee from that branch lives, Her apocalypse will not come to pass. It needs to fail so we can continue working towards our own. And that’s where you come in, Mr. McDonald.” Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. “The Partners are going to give you a gift. It’s the only thing they can think of to keep Her Beast from being able to track you down. Of course, it’ll also prevent them from ever seeing you again, but they’re out of options.”

I glanced down at my right hand. “I’ve already got one of their gifts, Marcus. They gave me a fucking evil hand.”

He snorted. “Get on the bed and take your shirt off.”

“Excuse me?” My eyebrows shot up to my hairline.

Marcus made a disgusted face. “Is that really all you people think about? I can’t give you the gift if your skin is covered up. And we need to do this now, Mr. McDonald. The Beast is coming. I can feel it.”

“What if I say no?”

“Then I’ll knock you unconscious, strip you down, tie your ass to the bed, do what must be done, and leave you here in the middle of nowhere.” He leaned in closer. “Just because I’m not allowed to kill you any more doesn’t mean I can’t bring you to the brink of death. Keep that in mind.”

I shuddered. “So what must be done?”

“We’re going to make you disappear.” He got up and walked back towards the bed. “And Mr. McDonald? It’s going to hurt quite a bit.”


End file.
